Managing growth In The knowledge economy : lessons from the bust and boom of San Francisco's technology industry

Abstract

Municipal policy-makers have embraced the promise of the innovation-based "Next Economy" as the latest policy prescription for growth. However, recent evidence suggests that the agglomeration of high-skill, high-wage industries is associated with increased socioeconomic divergence and pressures on the urban land market. This thesis focuses on San Francisco, as a city that is increasingly divided by the dividends of its own growth. This thesis asks, given what we know of the past dotcom trajectory, what can the City of San Francisco learn about managing rapid economic development in an era of hyper capital mobility, with the goal of protecting vulnerable populations in the housing market, preserving diversity, and promoting a broader distribution of prosperity in the future? Using the recent Central Market Payroll Tax Exclusion program as a point of departure, I show how short-term wins can distort a city's valuation of longer-term social goals, and in so doing, I highlight the need to address growth management from a longer-term perspective of economic resilience.